Endodontic therapy, commonly referred to as a root canal procedure typically involves cleaning out the tooth's pulp from the canal(s) through the tooth's root(s), disinfecting the cleaned out space (canal) and then filling it. It is of utmost importance that all of the bacteria that may have existed in the canal before or during the procedure are eliminated before the canal is filled. See, for example, Hancock H. H. 3rd et al., “Bacteria isolated after unsuccessful endodontic treatment in a North American population”, Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology, Endodontology 2001 May; 91(5):579-86.
Various techniques have been used to disinfect the root canal but all suffer from one or more drawbacks. For example, one technique involves the use of caustic materials, e.g., bleach is one example, as the disinfecting agent introduced into the canal. This presents a risk to the patient if the material leaves the tooth and gets into the jaw or sinus. Other antibacterial techniques can require a substantial amount of time in the dental chair, e.g., five to thirty minutes, and can require multiple visits of anesthesia and drilling of the tooth. As such there is the risk that the patient will not comply and return for follow up to complete the root canal treatment
Moreover, at present there are no non-invasive methods to kill bacteria or deal with post-operative flare-ups; a critical concentration of viable bacteria may remain. In fact, if there are post-operative flare-ups or any post-operative failure, currently requires retreatment, surgery or extraction. Further still, at present there is no way for a subsequent Dental professional to identify the particular antibacterial technique that was utilized by the prior Dental professional in carrying out the root canal procedure since, even if records from treating Dental professional exist, many Dental professionals do not keep a detailed record of time of exposure to antibacterial material or the concentration of the antibacterial material used.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been used on a limited basis as a means for killing bacteria within a tooth canal during a root canal procedure. That technique entails flooding the affected tooth with photodynamic or photosensitive dye so that the dye enters into the tooth canal. Then a fiber optic cable is introduced into the canal to irradiate the photosensitive dye with light from within the canal to activate the dye to release free radicals, such as singlet oxygen, which is known to have an anti-microbial or antibacterial effect. See, Mohammad Asnaashari et al., “A Comparison of the antibacterial activity of the two methods of photodynamic therapy (using diode laser 810 nm and LED lamp 630 nm) against Enterococcus Faecalis in extracted human anterior teeth”, Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy August 2015, A. Rios et al., “Evaluation of photodynamic therapy using a light-emitting diode lamp against Enterococcus faecalis in extracted human teeth”, Journal of Endodontics 2011 June; 37(6):856-9, and Vaziri S. et al., “Comparison of the bactericidal efficacy of photodynamic therapy, 2.5% sodium hypochlorite, and 2% chlorhexidine against Enterococcous faecalis in root canals; an in vitro study”, Dental Research Journal 2012 September; 9(5):613-8.
While such a photodynamic technique appears to present some advantages over other antibacterial techniques, such technique still leaves much to be desired from various standpoints. For example, the amount of light delivered into the tooth canal to activate the photosensitive dye is limited to the size of the optic fiber. Furthermore, light from the optical fiber may not reach crevices that are not in the direct path of the incident light. Moreover, the flooding of the tooth with the liquid dye is messy since the liquid dye stains the teeth and gums. Moreover, that liquid dye may not gain complete access into the full depth of the tooth canal. Further yet, viable bacteria may remain present in the root canal, leaving the potential for reinfection at some point in the future. Further still, the entire procedure has to be accomplished within the Dentist's office, with the tooth canal still being exposed to allow entry of the fiber-optic cable. The above prior art methods do not permit treatment of the tooth canal once the tooth canal has been sealed.
Accordingly, a need exists for a better photodynamic root canal procedure which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art and also provides a viable and effective means for carrying it out. The subject invention addresses those needs.